1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to recycling household wastes. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for efficiently collecting wastes that have been separated by type in a manner that preserves the integrity of the original separation.
2. Discussion of Background
Despite the growing concern about the environmental impact of industrial processes and waste generation, the amount of waste generated continues to be a problem in our society. It has been estimated that approximately 3.5 to 6.5 pounds of solid waste are generated per day for every individual in the United States. Additionally, the capacity of our landfills is steadily dwindling and the buried waste sometimes threatens to become a source of pollution.
One method for tackling this solid waste problem is recycling as much of household solid waste as possible. Recycled waste saves landfill space and provides resources for making new products.
Recycling involves the recovery of materials such as glass, plastic, metals and paper products for eventual reuse, thus reducing the overall amount of solid waste generated. By reusing much of the waste materials that are generated, recycling helps to extend the finite supply of raw materials.
Recycling has been taking place for many years, as have waste disposal and retrieval systems facilitating the collection and processing of recyclable waste. Also, multi-compartment containers for segregating household wastes are known. Likewise, vehicles designed to receive waste contained in these compartmentalized containers while maintaining separation of the segregated wastes collected are known.
For example, Pluss, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,776, discloses a container having separate compartments for recyclable materials. The container has a series of compartment partitions for forming compartments of different sizes. Also, Schiller, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,125, discloses a system for collecting and transporting a plurality of waste types using a vehicle having multiple collection chambers and a plurality of collection containers.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,015,142 and 5,015,143, Carson discloses a waste collection system using a transportable, outdoor container that has a plurality of bins for dumping materials from a divided container into the separated bins. The plurality of bins have hinged doors opened by actuating a push plate catch release.
Similarly, Foa, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,220, discloses container assemblies for use with each other to transfer plural types of waste from one container to the other while maintaining separation of plural waste types. In this waste collection system, indoor containers are rotated about a fitting mounted on the outdoor containers to invert the indoor containers for conveying the contents of indoor container into corresponding outdoor container compartments. Also disclosed by Foa is an additional embodiment that uses lid openings rotating about a vertical axis to create sequentially a window for each compartment.
Nothing in these references uses the convenience of sliding compartment or container lids instead of liftable, rotatable covers. Also, current collection and transferal devices either feature single containers having multiple compartments or multiple containers housing separate types of wastes.
Nothing currently in use teaches a collection vehicle that can lift and invert a group of containers, each of which has multiple compartments for separated wastes, and can dump the separated wastes into the vehicle while preserving the integrity of the waste separation.
There exists a need for an improved waste collection system that maintains the integrity of the separation of wastes from initial collection of household wastes to distribution of the waste types.